Page 221 - Design for Six Sigma for Service (Six SIGMA Operational Methods)

190 Chapter Eight

it involves the coordinated efforts of product development, marketing,
promotion, customer service, and corporate leadership. Since the strength
of the brand is directly related to the value of service products, the people
who work on product development must understand the basics of brand
development.

This chapter covers the important aspects of brand development. Section 8.2
makes a deep dive into the question, What is a brand? Section 8.3 discusses
the brand development process. Section 8.4 discusses the role of brand
development in the Design for Six Sigma practice.

8.2 The Anatomy of Brands

Strong brands have magical power to add value to products and bring
customer loyalty. It is really important to understand how strong brands
influence consumers’ minds and what are essential components of a strong
brand. In this section we are going to discuss all important aspects of brands.

8.2.1 People’s Buying Behavior and Brands
According to Arnold (1992), the power of brands can be explained by some
truths about how people make buying decisions:
1. Most customers, especially consumers in the mass market, will not
understand a product or service as well as the company selling it. Most
customers only have some superficial knowledge about the product or
service, and many are not even interested in product or service details.
2. Customers will perceive a product or service in their own terms. Since
the customers usually only have imperfect knowledge about the
product or service, customers have to select some attributes that are
most obvious to them and will develop their perceptions based on their
opinion of these attributes. For example, airline customers may rate
the airline based on the things they see; if they see there are stains on
the flip-down table or see an imperfect bathroom, they may doubt the
whole operation of the airplane, including the airplane engine main-
tenance. Customers may judge a detergent by its smell, not by how
well it washes. Different customers may choose different attributes;
every customer has a personalized view.
3. Customers’ perception often focuses on benefits of the product or
service. The benefits are what a product or service can do for a
customer. Each customer may see different benefits; some of them
may see some functional benefits, while others are more interested in